The Kirkus Prize is one of the richest literary awards in the world, with a prize of $50,000 bestowed annually to authors of fiction, nonfiction and young readers’ literature. It was created to celebrate the 81 years of discerning, thoughtful criticism Kirkus Reviews has contributed to both the publishing industry and readers at large. Books that earned the Kirkus Star with publication dates between November 1, 2015, and October 31, 2016 (see FAQ for exceptions), are automatically nominated for the 2016 Kirkus Prize, and the winners will be selected on November 3, 2016, by an esteemed panel composed of nationally respected writers and highly regarded booksellers, librarians and Kirkus critics.

KIRKUS REVIEW

A timely, insightful exploration of
the transformational change occurring in information technology.

Simply look at the ways we consume
media, buy things online, and maintain always-on connectivity to see the impact
information technology is having on contemporary life. IT is having an equally
dramatic effect on business, suggests debut author Stawski, through an
“inflection point” that is based on “the convergence of cloud, mobility,
software as a service (SaaS), and data.” Stawski, an executive and global area
sales leader for Hewlett Packard Enterprise, is eminently qualified to write
about this convergence, and he relies on his experience with large clients as
well as other pertinent examples to add texture and context to his visionary
treatise. Perhaps Stawski’s most forward-thinking notion is his belief that IT
in a typical business needs to undergo significant reformation. “I estimate
that enterprises are overspending on IT by as much as 40 percent,” he writes,
proposing rather boldly “that a company should never purchase IT hardware or
software licenses again.” He chides companies mired in the past for generally
being behind the consumer curve when it comes to technology adoption, and he
makes a strong case for abandoning traditional IT infrastructure in favor of
cloud-based services. “Companies need to think of computing as a utility, which
requires cloud or cloud-like infrastructure and payment mechanisms,” the author
says. Along the way, Stawski provides an excellent overview of cloud computing,
an often cited but frequently misunderstood concept. Despite the occasional
sales pitch for Hewlett Packard, he offers equally cogent discussions of mobile
computing and big data. Informative as these sections are, though, it is
Stawski’s future-think perspective on “the era of the IT department as a
service broker” that is the compact treatise’s most compelling and intriguing
concept. Not surprisingly, Stawski says it will take “transformative CIOs” to fully understand and embrace the new IT
reality as he sees it.

A smartly observed, important work
by an IT expert with a keen eye on the future.

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